A man who committed a fatal shooting over a parking space has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after the judge dramatically declared the killing an 'execution.'
After shooting a man in a parking lot at Lenox Square in Atlanta, Georgia , the judge handed down a sentence that exceeded what the prosecution had requested. The horrific shooting happened on March 8, 2020, with Ricky James Lafargue arrested for felony murder days later. The crime was captured on CCTV footage.
The altercation started when LaFargue and four others took a parking spot 31-year-old Thuan Nguyen and his girlfriend were waiting for. After both parties visited the mall's food court, Nguyen, who was unarmed and outnumbered, likely spotted them exiting and decided to follow, prompting an altercation that suddenly turned deadly.
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During the altercation, LaFargue pulled out a firearm from his sling bag, maneuvered behind Nguyen, and subsequently shot him. After the incident, LaFargue's group fled in an SUV, which soon crashed, leading to LaFargue abandoning the vehicle with the gun and a hat containing his DNA inside.
Lafargue was later captured by the US Marshals Service in Brooklyn, NY and was extradited to Atlanta.
John Weitnauer, Fulton County Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney said the murder should have been a minor dispute over a parking spot and shouldn't have escalated.
Weitnauer used a detailed diagram of the Lenox Square parking lot, mall surveillance footage, and additional evidence to demonstrate to the jury the sequence of events.
He suggested a life sentence with the possibility of parole for LaFargue; considering his age, he was 19 at the time of the crime and had no adult criminal history.
However, Judge Alice Benton imposed a harsher sentence, mandating life without parole plus an additional five years. "On the count of murder I am going to sentence you to life without the possibility of parole," declared Benton.
"This case is particularly disturbing. It was described by witnesses to the murder as an execution. It was pure evil with a gun pointed to the back of that victim's head when you pulled the trigger and killed the man, leaving his family and his child with no father," continued the judge.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis expressed her approval of Winne's sentencing, stating, "I'm pleased with it. I understand why the judge gave the sentence that she gave."
"The defense was Mr. LaFargue took out the weapon, attempted to strike the victim, and the gun accidentally went off. A defense which the jury evidently rejected but that I believe will hold water on appeal," stated defense attorney Patrick Brackley.
Weitnauer revealed that during his testimony, LaFargue claimed Nguyen started a fistfight with someone from LaFargue's group, a man who has since admitted to providing false statements to police and accepted a plea under the First Offender Act, also supported this claim in court.
However, none of the independent witnesses called by the prosecution corroborated these assertions. "There's no evidence that Mr. Nguyen ever threw any punches at Mr. LaFargue," Weitnauer asserted.
"It was senseless. There were multiple people around. It was in broad daylight," prosecutor Danielle Russell commented on the nature of the crime.
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